Piers Morgan on the new Miss America format: “Nobody’s going to watch an assortment of ugly, 250 lb contestants giving their views on world peace"
In a bid to turn the maliciously sexist image of the Miss America pageant, Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of the Miss America Organization, announced that henceforth, the American beauties would be judged by their brains rather than just their beauty, and that the much popular swimsuit segment of the pageant will no longer be in effect.
"We are no longer a pageant," announced Carlson during an appearance on Good Morning America. "We will no longer judge candidates on their outward physical appearance. It’s going to be what comes out of their mouth that we’re interested in when they talk about their social impact initiatives."
"We’ve heard from a lot of young women who say, ‘We’d love to be a part of your program but we don’t want to be out there in high heels and a swimsuit,’ so guess what, you don’t have to do that anymore," said Carlson.
"Who doesn’t want to be empowered, learn leadership skills and pay for college and be able to show the world who you are as a person from the inside of your soul. That’s what we’re judging them on now."
However, this stance of the pageant has apparently infuriated host Piers Morgan, who ranted about this strategic change not only on Twitter but also in an exclusive column for the Daily Mail. The British media personality completely turned his wrath toward's the pageant's decision to rule out physical appearance as a criterion for judging a winner on Tuesday, and personally called out Carlson in his outrage.
In his much-talked-about column, Morgan called the pageant's decision “absolutely ridiculous, and will be an inevitable rating disaster.”
“I’m afraid the harsh reality is that nobody’s going to watch a beauty pageant to see an assortment of ugly, 250 lb. contestants giving their views on world peace. Period,” Morgan wrote.
“We are now open, inclusive and transparent,” Carlson is quoted as saying in Morgan’s new column, “and I want to inspire thousands of young people across this country to come and be part of our program. We are not going to judge you on your appearance because we are interested in what makes you, you.”
But Morgan clearly feels otherwise. “I’ve got some news for you, Gretchen: nobody on the entire planet cares what comes out of the mouths of Miss America contestants unless they say something so dumb it makes us laugh out loud,” Morgan wrote. “They’re not competing to see who is smartest, funniest, or most environmentally concerned.”
He added, “They’re there because they’re smoking hot.”
In addition to the swimsuit competition, the pageant is also eliminating the evening gown portion of the competition.
According to reports, the swimsuit competition will be now replaced by a live interactive session with the judges, whereas the evening gown event will be taken over by contestants wearing clothes that will hopefully make them feel confident, help them expresses their personal style and ultimately show how they hope to advance the role of Miss America.